


Zuko Visits Azula

by mikasyuu



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Reconciliation, Rehabilitation, Sibling Rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:48:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24709357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikasyuu/pseuds/mikasyuu
Summary: Takes place a few months after the end of ATLA. Azula is causing much more trouble than she's worth in her cell. Zuko visits her for the first time since her capture and imprisonment, attempting Uncle Iroh's suggestion of reconciliation.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Kudos: 67





	Zuko Visits Azula

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this just after finishing ATLA, not only did I want a little Zutara fanon but the Zuko and Azula reconciliation that we needed. One-Shot :)

Aang had offered to take away Azula’s bending. It was dangerous, he had said, but he would do it. Everyone had been surprised when Zuko declined the offer, seeing as holding Azula in a cell had been quite a problem for the last few months. She would burn the hands that would bring her food or water, so they installed a system where they could give her meals without contact. Then she had slowly worked away at melting the metal cell, requiring Toph to stop by every two weeks to patch up the damage. This took restraining Azula which wasn’t easy… to say the least.

They’d put her cell by her fathers initially so that they wouldn’t be in total isolation but Azula proved she couldn’t handle even that. She’d screamed, argued, and repeatedly threatened her father and his retaliation was equivalent. It was driving her further into insanity. 

Zuko had not visited her since the Agni Kai, and he didn’t intend to visit her at all. Azula was his sister but visiting her was not like visiting his father. The only thing he wanted from his father was information about his mother, he was done trying to appease him and wouldn’t waste his energy beating a fallen king. 

Azula was insane. Zuko went to the dungeons to check the restraints every night, and every night Azula cried out in strife. Devastated and in denial of her fall from grace. But where she’d been was never graceful. Her father endorsed her childish obsession with power and dominance, he corrupted her, ruined her. Even her fire had been tainted an inhumane blue, one borne solely of a tainted desire. 

She had fallen into a pit of insanity, and Zuko didn’t intend to be dragged down when reaching out a hand to help. So he would leave her.

But things have changed recently. More specifically, Uncle Iroh had many grievances with how Zuko was taking this situation. He believed Zuko should take the next step and at least visit her. He even teamed up with Katara, and Katara (who had almost been struck by Azula’s lightning) fully backed Uncle Iroh’s plans.

Today was the day they planned out for Zuko to do it. Uncle Iroh had assumed most of Zuko’s duties to give him an entire day and Katara told him that she would avoid him until he talked to Azula. She claimed that if she could forgive him, he could at least talk to Azula.

She didn’t fully understand their dynamic though. Katara had grown up alongside Sokka, taking care of him and looking out for one another. Zuko and Azula had grown up diverged. Azula could firebend trifold better than Zuko, receiving praise from their father that Zuko would have laid his life on the line for. She belittled him and constantly manipulated situations to where Zuko would only feel great pain in his childhood. Her own mother feared what she would become, and Azula had no problem with her banishment. It entertained her. 

Zuko still hasn’t found his mother either, his father told him of her banishment but, after multiple search parties, her whereabouts are still a mystery. That’s another reason they say Zuko should talk to Azula, to find out more about his mother. His father was only so chatty before he lost the will to even speak to Zuko at all.

Azula was his last hope, but Zuko didn’t rely on her at all. The same way his facial scar phantom aches at memories of his father, the one on his chest aches at any mention of Azula. The sister he’d lost. 

Making his way through the halls underneath the palace where his two family members reside in cells, Zuko tried to open his mind. But by the time he reached the last hallway he was too busy shivering to concentrate. It was already cold down here due to the seclusion in the deep layers of Earth, but Azula’s freezer room dropped at least 30 degrees of the entire compound. 

After a few minutes he reached Azula’s freezer. He’d already had her bound at the arms and legs with a mini metal plate bent to fit over her mouth, letting her breath and talk but restraining the fire, and cranked up the freezer. Zuko pulled the correct levers and went through the first door, turning to pull a few more levers to close it. After the first door closed he grabbed the bar and opened it up to see Azula.

Just as ordered she was bound and partially gagged. She looked… not right. Her hair varied in lengths, presumably cut by her finger nails which had grown to point, but the overall body of it cascaded down her back. The clothes she’d been wearing were shredded and torn at the edges, caked in a layer of grime from the cell floor. Her feet were bare, looking strangled from how tightly bound her ankles were. They anticipated a rough reaction. Zuko looked back up to see that her eyes were closed, somehow she’d fallen asleep under those maximum restraints. She almost looked peaceful, but when Zuko took a step further into the cell she awoke with a jump.

She began laughing hysterically, swaying her body by the chains that bound her hands above her head and to the ceiling. 

“I really must be seeing things now if my sweet Zuzu has come to see me,” Azula spoke as she always did but her voice was strained and raspy. It held no real emotion behind her words.

“Don’t call me that,” Zuko retaliated, not wanting to hear another word of false empathy or care. She’d once planned on killing him, the only thing she cared about was power and control.

“Oh,” Azula’s eyes lit up, “it really is you!” She laughed again. “Have you come to apologize to your dear sister?” Azula beat her eyelashes mockingly.

“I’m not here for you stupid games, Azula,” Zuko wanted to look away but felt obliged to really understand her ruination, no matter how awful it was to see.

Azula nearly cackled, “Then why are you here Zuzu? I’m upset, you don’t want to see me?” 

“That’s not-” Zuko sighed, not willing to tolerate Azula’s endless chaos. “Do you even understand why you're still here?”

“Honestly no, I haven’t a clue what I did wrong,” Azula’s eyes settled into a glare, “if anything I’m the only chance at restoring any pride to this country.”

“How can you still believe that?” Zuko yelled his question, just wanting a response, but it fell upon deaf ears.

“How can you turn your back on me?!” Azula bellowed. “How can you leave your own family to rot like animals!”

Zuko knew she would be bad, but he’d expected something to change after a few months. She hadn’t even tried to see herself as the problem.

“Why don’t you try to understand why everyone left you down here,” Zuko took a step closer, “if you truly cared about me, or Ty Lee, or Mai you would have tried to understand why we turned away. But you have no empathy, you are soulless.”

“Zuzu,” Azula feigned a tone of shock, “that’s so mean of you to say! Maybe that’s why mom hasn’t found her way back to you. Such a nasty child.” Azula shook her head with a ‘tsk-tsk’, only further infuriating Zuko.

“I said to stop calling me that!”

“What’re you going to do? Tell mom?” Azula scoffed, “She’s dead for all we know, you should probably drop the obsession while you still can. Oh wait, you can’t, it's the same thing you did with the avatar. Chasing some hopeless desire to make yourself feel better.”

Zuko wanted to strike out, wanted to hurt her the way her words hurt him. But even if words wouldn’t strike deep enough to change Azula, he would still try.

“That’s awfully hypocritical coming from the person who chased the ascension of the fire lord the same way,” Zuko stepped in again, just a few feet away from Azula, “at least I know what I did! You still think this is about power! Azula, you crave control and losing it has driven you towards madness.”

“Shut up!” Azula screeched, battling against her restraints. “Maybe if you’d gotten your honor back you wouldn’t be such a coward right now! Let me out, let me fight back!”

“I’m not fighting you Azula,” Zuko stood his ground, raising his shoulders, giving himself the confidence to stand against Azula’s revolting remarks.

“Fight me!” Azula’s voice was beginning to give out, then she showed Zuko why her voice was so weak. Electric blue flames ejected from the small holes in her mask. They didn’t reach Zuko or melt the metal Toph had specifically made for this. 

It was a terrible sight. Azula sobbed as she screamed as she kicked as she blew flames out of her mouth. Nothing had changed and maybe that was Zuko’s fault. Maybe he should’ve talked to her sooner or sent Uncle Iroh to help, done something. Instead he’d left her to her own ruination for his own good. It was a selfish choice and Zuko knew it, but no one expected Azula to recover. Her psyche had crumbled after she’d lost to Zuko. Zuko can only imagine how many times she replayed her failure in her head.

Zuko backed away, watching Azula run herself ragged. Waited until she was gasping for air, barely kicking her legs out to freedom. 

“Leave,” Azula gasped out between weak breaths, her voice barely making a sound, “now.”

Zuko took a deep breath before making his way out, going through the intricate lock system and making his way back to the palace. When he reached the council room where Uncle Iroh was holding a reparations meeting, he felt a hand grab his shoulder before he could open the door. Zuko turned to see Katara. He let out a deep breath.

“How’d it go?” Katara looked nervous to ask this, clearly unsure of Zuko’s boundary with Azula. She was there to comfort Zuko when they locked Azula up, there to heal Zuko everyday after he’d been struck.

Zuko contemplated before speaking, “She’s the same.”

Katara had a sorrowful look in her eyes. Her hand trailed from Zuko's shoulder down his arm, holding his hand in hers. Zuko gave her a soft smile before continuing into the council room with her at his side. 

He went through the rest of the day like that, using Katara as a form of comfort, of understanding. They had to part that night, since Katara’s dad was staying in the palace town and refused to let Katara spend the night at the palace. After she left Zuko made his way to see his Uncle, he had a favor to ask of.

Luckily Uncle Iroh hadn’t been too difficult to find, considering after a long day he would either be fast asleep or in the tea room. Not many alternatives. Zuko stood at the doorway to the tea room, watching Iroh from behind shuffle around some Pai Sho tiles while sipping his tea. To Zuko’s surprise Iroh spoke up.

“Zuko,” He turned his head back, “come, play a game with me.”

Zuko was terrible at Pai Sho, but he nodded and made his way to the table. As Zuko took his seat at the other mat Uncle Iroh handed him a cup of tea. His Uncle took his time setting up the board, passing Zuko his tiles as he contemplated his first move.

“You…” Zuko was hesitant to break their comfortable silence, “You’re not curious about how it went today?”

“We just got here,” His Uncle said, “we have a whole game of Pai Sho to talk over.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Zuko agreed, making a defensive move after his uncle placed a tile. They both played a few more turns before anyone spoke again.

“Azula’s the same,” Zuko blurted out, not able to stay silent, not able to think about this any longer without his Uncle’s guidance. His Uncle rested his chin on his hand, he looked disappointed, but not surprised. 

“No,” He said simply as he poured himself another cup of tea.

“Uh, Uncle?” Zuko was confused.

“I saw Azula a week ago,” Uncle Iroh took a sip, “she’s changed in ways only she can see.”

“I saw her today,” Zuko countered, “She hadn't come to terms with anything! She only stewed in anger and denial!”

Uncle Iroh smirked, “Sounds like someone I used to know,” Zuko knew he was referring to the Zuko of years past.

“I know,” Zuko sighed, “that’s why it hurts to see her.”

“It hurts because she is years behind you,” His Uncle chided, “it hurts because she’s not showing herself to anyone else. Your sister cares, Zuko, how much she cared drove her to that point.”

“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say,” Zuko’s face contorted with confusion, maybe his Uncle's wisdom talks were too much to process.  
“Your sister is coming to terms with her loss every single day, now she just wants someone to reach out to her,” Uncle Iroh met eyes with Zuko, turning away from the fire he had previously been staring into, “it has to be you Zuko.”

“What about my mother?” Zuko questioned, “Azula cared so much about how our mother saw her, if our mother gives her the validation she needs Azula might be able to change.”

Uncle Iroh sighed sadly, giving Zuko a piteous look, “You cannot rely on your mother for this, she's… not here right now Zuko. We do not know when she will be here.”

The comment hurt, but Zuko knew it was the truth, it was something he hadn’t wanted to accept. He set down the cup of tea he had been holding and stood up.

“Uncle, I’m going to sleep on this. Can you clear my schedule so that I can visit her cell tomorrow?”

His Uncle smiled kindly, “Of course, now go sleep. I can tell Pai Sho was making your brain work overtime.” Zuko huffed out a laugh before he began to walk out of the room. He turned back for a second to look at his Uncle, watching him pack up the tiles and put together the tea set. Zuko had no clue what he’d do without him.

The next day Zuko awoke and headed straight towards Azula’s cell, he’d let a servant know to tell Katara of this whenever she would arrive at the palace. Hopefully he would be done by then but with Azula, he had no idea how long this would take. 

Once the final door to the freezer opened a cold blast of air hit Zuko, when his vision cleared he saw Azula wide awake, staring him dead in the eye.

“I knew you’d come back,” Azula smirked. Zuko asked for the restraints to not be as… brutal today. Her hands were bound behind her back and her ankles were bound, no muzzle contraption. 

“Uncle Iroh told me he came to see you,” Zuko started, attempting to strike a useful conversation out of her.

“Oh that fat old man? Yeah, you could say he tried to talk to me,” Azula scoffed, “why do you think they made me that muzzle?” Zuko bit back his anger, tightening the fist that formed at his side. 

“Enough, Azula,” Zuko declared, trying to assert some power in the conversation, “what did he say to you?”

“You know your Uncle, just some stupid proverbs that made absolutely no sense,” Azula blew a hair out of her face, “and you all say I’m the crazy one.”

Zuko didn’t look amused, which led to Azula finding his bored expression very amusing and laughing. 

“His ‘proverbs’ were the same thing that helped me find out who I was,” Zuko gave her a disgusted look, “clearly, you wouldn’t understand.” Zuko was tired of this.

“Azula, I’m not waiting here any longer for you to play around your words and insult me,” Zuko began to turn and head out, ready to give up on her, no matter what his Uncle said.

“Wait-” Azula had leaned forwards too far, causing her chains to rattle, “Zuko..” Zuko turned, looking for Azula to say something, anything that would lead him to think she was… a person.

“Don’t make me,” Azula grumbled, “I just-don’t leave me here,” Azula mumbled a little more before speaking up again.

“Don’t leave me… again.” Zuko stood there, shocked. It was clear her imprisonment had done a number on her, it was clear yesterday but today her reaction was different. 

“Azula…”

“Just,” Azula’s expression was full of anger, but her eyes seeped sadness, “Can you bring Ty Lee to see me? It’s… not fun being down here all alone. What a cruel way to treat a prisoner…”

“Fine,” Zuko agreed, “just answer one question for me.” Azula rolled her eyes but nodded for him to continue. 

“What’s holding you back?” Azula looked at him like he was insane.

She scoffed, “Wait, you want me to answer that question? What do I say, I’m so enraged and upset with this complete loss of everything that I fought tooth and nail for?” Zuko was confused.

“Uh, yeah?”

“Ha,” Azula looked down, “Well it’s true. Anyone would be upset if they had lost what I lost that day. There’s nothing left for me.”

Zuko waited for her to look back up, but her eyes stayed glued to the ground. “Come with me to find mom.” That got Azula to look up, but Zuko couldn’t read the expression on her face. 

“She’s long gone Zuko, I’m assuming father told you of her banishment? If you haven’t found her by now then good luck.”

Zuko gritted his teeth, unsure of what to say that would convince her, “I’m not here to beg at your feet Azula, either you help me or you can rot in this cell for all I care.”

“Okay, okay,” Azula shifted her weight, “how soon until we leave?” Zuko was surprised at how quickly she’d accepted.

“We leave in a week, be ready.” Zuko began to head to the door, Azula spoke up one last time.

“Ty Lee and Mai have to come get me or I am not leaving this cell,” Zuko could hear the smirk from Azula's tone. Zuko grunted out a ‘fine’ before he left.

It wasn’t much but… it was something. A chance at change, Zuko couldn’t believe how optimistic he had become in recent months. Maybe recruiting Mai would bring his spirits down a little.

For now he headed back up to the palace floors, ready to find Katara and get her help assembling their gang again for a large search party. He would also need some help convincing everyone to work with Azula… It wouldn’t be easy. But none of this was easy, Zuko knew that going in and would push through that everyday. No matter how he felt about Azula, he was ready to start forgiving her, ready to help her rehabilitate.

The day Katara and Zuko locked her up was a sad victory. Seeing the way Azula felt and acted that day was something they told no one, they saw a vulnerability no one was supposed to see. Seeing the true desire and pain beyond the callus and controlling front Azula had tried so hard to emulate, tried so hard that it destroyed her. They both knew that if Azula hadn’t succumbed to insanity that day, crumbled to a vulnerability that festered and grew in her ill-psyche; she would have killed Zuko and maybe even Katara. 

Zuko wasn’t going to let her atrocities go in free spirit, but he was also not going to criticize her vulnerabilities when it was something similar to what he’d gone through. From this point on he could only help so much, standing by Azula’s side every step of the way. But he wouldn’t be alone, he had Katara, Uncle Iroh, Aang, Toph, Sokka, hell even Appa. 

Zuko wanted to fix his family and fill the holes his father had carved, it was his new destiny, and he would put all of his being into helping Azula and finding his mother.


End file.
